Once seen as a prediction of the sinking of the Titanic, this
novella was written 14 years before that ill-fated event of 1912--now,
on the centenary anniversary of the Titanic's sinking, the striking
similarities can be examined again in this new edition John Rowland, a
disgraced former Royal Navy lieutenant, has taken employment as a lowly
deck hand aboard the largest ship ever to have sailed, the Titan. One
night in deep fog, the ship strikes a gigantic iceberg and sinks almost
immediately. Written 14 years before the Titanic's sinking, this
novella has been hailed in equal measures as a prophetic work and the
work of pure coincidence. Certainly the similarities are striking: two
unsinkable ships steam ahead in treacherous conditions, carrying
privileged passengers, with insufficient lifeboats aboard.